Learning to anchor

June 2008

We have upgraded our ground tackle (why do I always feel the need to giggle at that word?) We have a brand new electric windlass, a new 45lb anchor and 35m of new 10mm chain. It was all very shiny and new- although Jay did panic about the fact that the shackle which holds it all together cost less than £3!

So now we needed to try it all out. Typically, the only sunny days throughout May were when we were working, so we found it very difficult to get away, but finally we had two weeks off in the beginning of June.

Initally, we sailed down from Shamrock Quay to a little bay on the north west side of the Isle of wight. Here we 'dropped the hook' at about lunch time. We set out the right amount of chain (plus a little more) and waited for the shore to come closer. We waited... and waited. It actually worked! That teeny tiny lump actually held our great big boat in place. Admittedly, it was a calm, sunny day but still, things were looking promising!

Given it was such a gorgeous day, we decided to visit Swanage. We got there and anchored up. We're getting good at this. We again spent our lunchtime enjoying the sunshine and gazing at the shore, wishing we were brave enough to leave the boat. There was a lovely stretch of beach just beckoning to us. But we stayed on board and after a few hours, pulled up the anchor and sailed into Poole for the evening. We already love our electric windlass!

We spent a couple of days in Poole- mainly so we could see the fireworks on Thursday night! They were very impressive. We spent the time fixing things and spending more money in the chandlery. Very dangerous places!

On Friday, we sailed off back towards the Solent. On the way, we decided to check out Newton Creek on the Isle of Wight. It was gorgeous. It's run by the National Trust and a man comes round in a little boat and collects donations- we paid £5 for the night- much cheaper than a marina! We anchored up thinking how lovely and secluded the place was. This was at 4pm. By 6pm, you could almost walk to shore on the anchored boats around us. We tried to tell one boat that we though they were very close and did they mind moving, but they shot us a dirty look and stayed where they were. Oh dear- now we had a dilemma. Did we stay where we were or move somewhere else- although by this time there were very little open spaces. As we were debating this, someone else came in and anchored even closer- making the first boat look miles away!

In the end, we decided to keep a close eye and see what happened through the night- after all, we'd never done this before. No-one else seemed at all concerned by how close everyone was- maybe this was normal!?!

We settled down with mugs of hot chocolate and watched the most spectacular sunset. It really was incredible. You could hear nature all around, with the birds calling to one another from time to time. This was the stuff of dreams.

As the sun set, the wind really picked up. It went from 10 knots to the mid twenties, gusting to 28/29 every now and then. We both slept in the saloon in our sleeping bags- ready to leap out at a moment's notice. Although we didn't set any formal watches, we did seem to take it in turns. J dozed at the beginning while Kat was wide awake and constantly checking to see if we were dragging. We didnt move at all, although we did swing around the anchor. However, we were expecting a huge swinging arc as the tide ebbed and flooded and that didnt happen- we can only assume because of the strength of the wind. It was fascinating watching how the other boats reacted- the motorboats moved to the wind much more than the yachts, but none of them came near us- although we were a little nervous from time to time!

As morning broke, we were ecstatic with the way our baby had behaved. She had survived an evening in winds we would never have anchored in initally. It was only forecast up to 20 knots and we were in considerably more than that! It was certainly one way to build up confidence!

The next day, we stayed exactly where we were. Jay caught up on both his work and his sleep, Kat made fairy cakes and wrote up the log. It was another beautiful day and we went for an exploration! Yes, we actually left our boat unattended and defenceless. Weren't we brave. We were away for about 2 hours and when we came back, she was doing so well that we went out again and explored the other end of the creek. We took a small picnic and enjoyed the beauty of it all. We stayed there again that night, for free (making it £5 for 2 nights- bargain!) We werre so comfortable that we didnt worry about how close the other boats were, or if she would drag. We even slept in our normal bed! We both got up a couple of times, but all this was definite improvement!
Roll on the next time.